Galaxy, INterstellar matter and Cosmology (GINCO)

IDOC/GINCO gather all activities on Galaxy, INterstellar matter and cosmology on several space, balloon and ground mission. It has an important role in data processing, distribution and interpretation, for several astronomy missions at long wavelength. In this matter, GINCO :

develops and maintains high level analysis pipelines

develops and maintains data archives & access

develops, maintains and distribute high level software for data analysis

offers scientific expertise for mission using long wavelength detectors

plays an important role in education and outreach to the general public

Since its creation, IDOC-GLO develops and maintain an expertise in high level analysis pipelines on dataset from space instruments at long wavelength. As an example, new algorithms have been developed to correct for instrumental effects in the case of the ISOCAM instrument on bord of ISO, all of the datasets delivered by ESA have been processed with this algorithm. The IRAS all sky survey has also been reprocessed to correct for residual instrumental effects and photometric uncertainties. The Improved Recprocessing of the IRAS Survey (IRIS) is now available through the IDOC, the IRSA, or the CDS in Strasbourg via Aladin.

Data processing and analysis of the Herschel and Planck mission are in the center of GINCO activities. We are developing the photometric cross-calibration of the two missions. Moreover, in the case of the Herschel/SPIRE instrument, we have the responsibility of developing high level algorithm to recover large scale diffuse emission. In particular, we are developing and maintaining new map making techniques based on the maximum likelihood or bayesian inversion methods, the latter allowing to gain high angular resolution.

DustEM is a numerical tool that computes the extinction, the emission, and the polarisation of interstellar dust grains heated by photons. It is written in fortran 95 and is jointly developed by Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS) and Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP). The dust emission is calculated in the optically thin limit (no radiative transfer) and the default spectral range is 0.04 and 105 μm. The code has been designed so that dust properties can easily be changed and mixed and to allow for the inclusion of new grain physics. Data for DustEM is generated by the IDL code DustProp which features methods to compute dust optical properties (e.g., Mie, T-matrix, DDA) and heat capacities (internal use only). A description and illustration of DustEM can be found in Compiègne et al. (2011). The DustEM Wrapper IDL tool uses DustEM to compute fluxes in a wide range of instrumental bands and to fit dust parameters. DustEM is coupled to the Meudon PDR code where it handles dust physics. DustEM is also coupled to the continuum radiative transfer codes CRT of the University of Helsinki as described and SKIRT of the University of Ghent.

HESIOD (HErSchel IdOc Database) is the first provider of Herschel space observatory data to be fully accessible from the astronomical Virtual Observatory (VO). These maps are available through the HESIOD portal as well as from any VO tool, such as Aladin.